Tokyo – JFE Steel Corporation has been awarded line pipe orders for the In Salah Gas Southern Fields Development Project in Algeria, with delivery to be handled by Marubeni-Itochu Steel Inc. Details of the orders are as follows:

21,000 metric tons of DNV 13% chrome-grade seamless steel line pipe

Diameters of 6.625 to 16 inches

Delivery will start in spring 2011 and will continue for nearly 2 years.

The contract was awarded using a Statoil frame agreement.

The In Salah Gas Southern Fields Development Project is operated by In Salah Gas, a joint venture between Sonatrach, Statoil and BP. In Salah Gas, which comprises three gas fields located 1,200 km south of Algiers, is the second largest gas development in Algeria. It started making deliveries in 2004 and is now planning to open four additional fields to the south of its current operations, for which JFE Steel will supply the 13% chrome line pipe.

The seamless steel line pipes will be used for long-distance wet gas inter-field and gathering pipelines. JFE Steel, which has demonstrated its proven capability to fulfill the strict and demanding requirements for such pipelines in many other projects, has abundant experience in supplying high-chrome line pipes.